Tinga's Ghost
by Hearns
Summary: Since the Fire, Brin has been haunted by images of her former life. Now her late sister Tinga is about to show her the road of redemption and it won't be pretty. First Person Point of View (Chapter 5 Uploaded) COMPLETE
1. Part 1, My life so far

Tinga´s Ghost by Shannon Hearn 

All character of Dark Angel are owned by Cameron-Eglee Productions and Twentieth century Fox.  

Rated "R" for mild nudity.  

***

Part 1, My life so far...

*** 

            I was Born X5'359, but that was an entire lifetime ago.  That was before her ghost started to show up.  First I thought that this image of my late sister Tinga was just my imagination.  But it wasn't she was real. 

            It was several weeks after the fire and the order that command was compromised that I started to feel like the world of order I had been born into had completely fallen apart.  My breeding partner was gone, but something told me that an image of who I was, Brin was starting to eak through the layers of Re-indoctrination that my superiors had dumped into my head.  Little did I know that there was a being trying to make sure that the little almond eyed girl she knew from her youth would find her way home. 

            I was asleep one night, I don't know when, but I felt like I was choking on something.  Then I reached over to see a white skinned Polynesian woman, wearing nothing but a tube top and a medical wrap around her waist hovering over my bed.  The pain in her eyes was such that I attempted to believe that is was some guilt driven dream of me handing her over to Renfro to be reversed engineered.  But that was until I felt the cold shiver run right through me and into my stomach.  This being was very real as frothy liquid started to pour out of her mouth.  

            That is about the time I rolled like crazy in the bed to grab a nearby lamp to pierce the thing before me.  But the tubes hanging from its body lashed out at me and knocked the lamp from my powerful grip.  

            "Why" The spirit said as its drowned features and gurgly voice moved through me.  "Why Little sister, Why???"  

            At that moment I screamed as it touched my face and entered my mind.  "Brin.  It's me Tinga.  I am here to speak to you."  Then there was darkness.  

***

            I awoke several hours later drenching wet.  I just shook as before me was a Blood dripped picture of the Blue Lady lay before me.  The blood drops formed several words.  

            "Brin find Case" 

            For almost an hour I just looked at those words set before me.  Who was Case?  I did not want to know.  Whatever was affecting me must have been at that location, because after I gotten clean and dressed, I left that location and ran until I felt safe.  That was about a month ago.  

            For the past several weeks I have been working at this job as a waitress at this diner.  Keeping my barcode hidden hasn't been too much of a problem for me with flesh-toned makeup, but I still remember that night.  That was until this off blond good-looking guy entered the place with a Doberman.  Something in my head screamed familiarity, but I couldn't place him.  And given the way I was feeling recently.  I was getting very hot inside.  I was going into heat and the guy was hitting on me.  I did not want to start out a relationship like this but it was a better chance for me to kill two birds with one stone.  

            "Hi there stranger, what ya's name."  I said in my best North Virginian accent attempting to through in some Mi Long accent in there.  

            "Hi, Um my name is Christian."  The guy said to me and I was almost drooling there in front of him.  

            "Um, my name is Nikki."  I said trying my best to keep my hormones in check.  In one hour my shift would be over, if I could last that long then I was home free.  

            "Hey how about meeting me in an hour, okay."  I said to him.  Within the next hour we were at his hotel room making out like rabbits on viagra.  I could feel the sweat down my body as I disconnected from myself.  I could feel the rhythm of my body moving with his as time became meaningless.  It was after I had lost track of time is when I went to sleep.  That was when Tinga's ghost returned to me and I was scared.  

***

            I was standing on a precipice of a well-forested mountain naked.  The cold wind was biting at my skin and I saw Tinga once again standing before me.  Instead of the haunting being that I had encountered from before, she was transformed into something the Ordinaries would call Angelic.  Since the days of my youth praying to the Blue Lady named Mary, I had not seen a being that would draw me into her life the same way that She did.  Tinga had been transformed into a servant of the Blue Lady; I just stood there scared.  I feared that I would be struck down where I stood.  But, Tinga just walked over to me and with her silken gown took me by my shoulders and sat down with me.  It wasn't until I felt the white shawl she had on being wrapped around me that I started to calm down. With a sisterly look that she always gave me when we were children she said, "Brin, Little Sister.  I'll protect you."  

            Those words tore at my soul as if I was terrified to even move.  Was she going to send me to the Dark Pitt?  I didn't know, but I just sat there as she started to talk with me.  I just held on to he shawl holding tighter around me to fend off not so much the cold of the weather around me but I knew that there was something that was going to be happening to me and I was afraid.  

            "Brin," Tinga said to me as she put her hand on my shoulder. "I need you to find my son Case."  I recoiled back fearing it was some act of vengeance she was going to place upon me.  

            "Brin, I am not wanting you to fear me.  I just want you to find my son Case.  I know that your soul is in there."  She said as I was getting more scared.

            "Tinga, what if I don't want to find your son.  What if I have other goal in my life." At that moment Tinga said something to me that I would never forget.  

            "Brin, It will be the only way that I will be able to leave you alone.  As long as my child feels that I abandoned him, than I cannot rest.  The sooner that I can tell him that I have died, I can pass onto the other side."  Tinga's request was a simple one:  To have closure in this life.

            "So you need me, to give your child closure."  

            "Yes.  But there is a catch, I cannot complete this quest alone in that there are souls that must be unified so that I can pass on."

            "These souls, Am I one of them Tinga?"  I said as I attempted to bring about an answer.  

            "Brin, the people that will bring you to the end of this quest you will meet."  Then Tinga paused for a moment and said something.  "Say Hi to Zane for Me, Okay."  Before I was able to communicate my questioning I woke up.  Staring at Zane's barcode.  

            Christian, the guy that I had sleep with, tuned out to be my Manticore Sibling Zane.  

            At that moment I swore that after this quest, I was going to make sure that Tinga stayed in the afterlife where she belonged.  

Next:

Part 2, The morning after


	2. Part 2, The morning after

Tinga´s Ghost by Shannon Hearn 

All character of Dark Angel are owned by Cameron-Eglee Productions and Twentieth century Fox.  

Rated "R" for mild nudity.  

***

Part 2, The morning after

***

            I had just had sex with Zane.  The Blue Lady had a really sick sense of humor.  I just felt dirty, and I did not mean by my body sweat and my loins.  I got out of bed not even thinking about touching the sheet and walked into the bathroom, closed the door moved over to the toilet and preceded to make an offering to the porcelain idol from my guts.  

***

            It had been several minutes until; there was a knock on the door, with Zane saying, "are you okay?"  I did not hear the door open as Zane walked up behind me as I was crying slash hiccupping still with my head in the toilet.  My hair had become so disheveled from the sweat and the sex that my barcode had become visible.   I could hear Zane's gasp as he realized that it was me, Brin his Transgenic sister.  The event didn't really sink in until he said my name and I recoiled into the corner away from him.  

            I just shook like a leaf until Zane took a towel down from the rack and wrapped it around my naked body that I started to spill out what had happened to me since my experience with Stage Five Protegra.  For over an hour I told Zane everything, minus the entire Tinga haunting me from beyond the grave thing that he finally understood that I was scared and attempting to break through what they had done to me.  It wasn't until a few hours later that we were both bathed and dressed that I decided that the sooner that I found Case and confessed what I had done to his mother, the sooner I could get back to having a life.  

***

            It took days for me to come to terms with my encounter with Zane. The shock and fear of seeing the Snake, Traitor, Betrayer, and Outcast images in my mind slowly fade away.  My heart was torn between hugging the crap out of Zane who I had a crush on since I was a child and wanting to rip his lungs out with my bare hands.  So one night I decided to get out of town for a few days. With a tote bag filled with clothes and my nine-millimeter handgun, I just started running in a direction.  

            I had heard stories about an Aboriginal tradition called Walkabout.  This concept flowed the idea of I you walked in one direction long enough you would meet yourself.  Sometimes it would take days or weeks to find themselves and get on the right path.  If you were on the right path, well the meeting would be nice, but if you were on the wrong path, well from what I had heard, being sent to the basement of Manticore would be a cakewalk compared what would happen.          

            As I started to walk through the woods of Northern Washington state, I felt as if something was following me, so picking a nearby tree, I jumped upwards and grabbed hold of a limb about twenty to thirty feet up and just sat perched up there surveying if anyone was out there.  But I got a surprise when I saw a young woman in the tree across from me.  

            "Hey there, I see that I'm not the only Transgenic out here."  The almost wild looking Transgenic said to me as her tan sweater looked as if it had seen better days, but her blue jeans looked like they were brand new.  The most interesting thing about the Transgenic that I had noticed about the girl was that she had a combination of Canine and Feline DNA facial characteristics to the eastern European appearance.  I had to pause for a moment as I saw the female Transgenic leap from her perch and land softly on her feet with an artistic elegance that even I envied.  

            "Hey... "  I said looking at the Transgenic on the ground, "What's your Designation and Name?"  The transgenic just looked up at me then I felt as if this Transgenic was looking right into her should?  Was she PsyOps or some other series? That had powers that seemed to scare me.  Then I saw the Female Transgenic do a Buddha grin at me.  

            "The name is Marzena, X5-478, but these in the know to my mate and those I know, I'm called MZ."  There was a pause from Marzena as she saw me free fall down to meet with her.  

            "My name is Brin, X5'359.  So tell me how many of our kind you have run into in the past few months?"  I said moving over to MZ and I noticed that the she did not have any shoes on; her skin had an almost tropical tan to it.  The feeling that Tinga was waiting for me to show up sent a wave of fear within my soul.  But in a little while I would learn that MZ was more interested in knowing how I got there and I was about learning about what she could do.  

***

            For almost an hour, Marzena sat down on the log of where she was swimming and told me that she was genetically tweaked with Dolphin, Canine and Feline DNA.  When she did some of her ultrasonic scan on me I realized it was that strange feeling I had felt in the forest.  She was pinging me to figure out what I was.  

            "So having Dolphin DNA must be real interesting?"  I said seeing that under her sweater she was naked as she swapped the sweater off for a normal T-shirt.   It was then I got that strange vibe off of her again.  "Hey can you stop that I'm not you used to you seeing me from the inside."  I yelled.  But Marzena gave ma a look of "I'm not doing it?"  Then there was a realization of "

"Oh, crap", I know who it is?" with that MZ looked at me.  

            "Jason, get your Lapis series ass out here now?"  MZ yelled in the woods.   Then a Blond haired male of he same series like MZ came out of the woods.  The muted Forest combat green digital pants he wore he wore contrasted against the white t-shirt he wore. The same deep tanned skin showed through.  I found myself almost drooling, but out of Nowhere Zane appeared and tackled Jason.  

            That is when MZ and me stated to run over to break up the testosterone showdown.

            "Jason."  Marzena screamed as she started blurring at maximum speed to get between Jason and Zane.  I finally had to pull my gun out and decided to whether to discharge it into the air.  Then I screamed, "Zane Stop it."  

            For the longest time, everything was at a standstill, as MZ, Jason, and Zane in tangled mess did not move after I yelled.  Zane was ready to pounce when a Doberman just stared baking.  I was scared out of my wits as the feline DNA in my genetic cocktail screamed run for your life.  

            Then MZ used her powers to communicate something I still can understand what it meant.

            "Down boy, we are not your enemies."  

            I was captivated by what was unfolding before me.  As Tinga appeared once again but this time she was scared.  Then I looked at Tinga as with a magical force she stopped the violence between this mass of Transgenic bodies.  

            "Brin..." Zane yelled as Jason's grip was realized from him. "I've found Case..." Those words hit my soul with a force of worry and of compassion.  In the moments that would follow Marzena and Jason would learn about why I was walking in the forest.  Tinga's little quest she had put me on was getting weirder by the moment.  

***

            Back at the hotel in town, Marzena and Jason, and Zane and Me had called a truce and trust me the two guys were talking guy stuff.  I.e. Women, Strip clubs, Cars, Movies, and their missions pertaining to some of the more interesting moments of the off duty stuff.  Meanwhile MZ and me were talking about our own stuff, including the greatest sex we have had in our lives and the most embarrassing moment of our lives.  But it all came down to me and MZ talking about Zane and me being Oh'Niners and my mission to set things right with my late sister.   

            The entire issue about what my life had been like before the fire was a heated discussion even after I worked up the nerve to talk with Max on the phone.  It was the longest conversation I would have in my life.  

***

            "Max..." I said into the phone's hand piece.  The pit of my stomach felt like someone was fondling my entrails like some sick Med-school pervert playing with his cadaver like it was his own personal sex toy.   "...Its Brin," I could feel the silence on the other end.  Did Max see me as Renfro's pet bitch or something else?  It was the something else I was afraid of hearing Max say. 

            "Brin, are you okay?" Max said on the phone, I could hear the pain of wanting to be there with me to help me get through this and the urge to beat my head in for killing Tinga.    

            "Max...  I don't know who I am...  I'm torn between wanting to turn all of our kind in, and kill you Max..." I said starting to start crying uncontrollably, "And wanting to stay safe where I was hiding at and wanting to make amends to what I did to Tinga's family."  I could feel the strength failing from my legs as I slid down on the floor.  Zane and Marzena raced to pick me up off the floor, but MZ looked like she felt that there was a conflict waging within me.  

            "Brin I know it is hard, but remember the first few months on the outside.  Remember how scary and hard it was."

            "I remember Max...  I remember Max..." at that point I started to remember my childhood in the years before and after the Pulse.  I could see the family that had raised me in the small California farming community I had fled to back in Oh' Nine.  They were like any major Hispanic farming family with at least three generations living under the same roof.  I could smell the fertilizer spray on Papa's clothes from him being out in the fields.  I could feel the warm sun on my face as my two brothers and I washed the car.  The cold slam of being hit by the spray of water from Water hose as the water fight began between us.  

            I remembered the taste of the Chocolate cake Momma had made for me right after I had my first Menstrual bleed to help cheer me up and let me know I was a woman now.  "There, There Lil' Almond Eyes. "  Momma said sitting with me on the couch in the big woolen woven blanket we shared rocking me back and forth.  "It's going to be okay."  That was a week before my Birthday and I could still feel the locket Momma gave me of the Virgin of Guadalupe, The Blue Lady herself.  I remember hanging it on the bedpost the night I got sick with Protegra and fled from the family that tended to me for years.  At that point I just broke down crying, 

            "I just want to say to Tinga's family that I'm sorry...  SOOOOO SORRY..." I wailed as the tears burned my eyes and ate at my face.  MZ just got on the floor with me and held me tight.  The last thing I remember hearing was, Zane asking Max where Charlie and Case were before I could feel the hot blackness envelop me.  

***

            I woke later in bed.  My body was screaming. I felt like I was drained both physically and emotionally.  I kept having the feeling that Tinga was out there waiting for me to screw up so that she would make an appearance.  But it wasn't that that worried me the most, I had remembered what I had been forced to forget when Manticore caught me and cured me of my disorder.  

            But I felt that I had been drained away slowly, bit by bit.  Was this how Tinga had died.  Slowly having the life sucked from her little by little until there was nothing left.  I knew that her ghost was waiting for something to happen, but what was it.  Was this some sister wanting to save another's soul or was it something else that I needed to do.  

            I just felt sick in my stomach and I rolled out of the bed and headed into the bathroom of the hotel the four of us were staying at.  I could feel the roughness of the carpet on my bare feet as I trudged into the room.  I heard that there was someone in the shower.  Part of me wished that it was Zane so that I could get in there with him and let him hold me.  As I reached for the shower curtain and pulled it back, I got the shock of my life when I saw Marzena naked.  Her form was almost streamlined.  Her nude body looked like someone had sculpted her every bone, muscle, and skin structure to make her into this being that stood before me.  

            "Sorry."  I said moving backwards but something happened.  Marzena just got out the shower and moved over to me cautiously.  

            "Brin, are you okay?" the Nude Transgenic said before me taking no shame in not covering her wet body before me.  

            "Yeah, " I said weakly, I could tell that she knew I was lying to her.  

            "You though I was Zane?" MZ said reaching over to the towel rack to take a neatly folded sheet down to wrap around her frame.  

            "Yes.  I did."  I said starting to break down in tears before my fellow X-series. "I just wanted Zane to hold me.  To feel safe in his arms."  I could feel that there was a churning in my stomach as I dove for the toilet.  I don't remember what came out of me then, but I had this sudden urge for crackers and buttered toast.  Marzena moved over and rubbed my back after I emptied the contents of my stomach out, I could seen that she had reached over to flush the contents down the drain so I would not start pukeing again.   That was when Marzena started to help me up and without me knowing it she had undressed me and I was standing naked before her. 

            "Brin, listen there is enough not water left in the shower."  Marzena said as she moved me into the shower and turned the central knob to let the water start landing on my body.  "Why don't you take it and feel better okay, from what I heard before Manticore got torched the flu this year is going to be rough on our kind."  With that she moved the shower curtain back and I was left standing there letting the heat soak into my body.  I was transported back to my youth and remember my first hot shower since my escaping from Manticore all those years ago.  MZ would later have me in my bed sleeping soundly as she kept watch over me like a guardian angel protecting a child from harm fearing that something bad happen to me if I was left alone.  And I felt the same way.   

***

Next:

Part 3, Walk in my shoes said the Ghost 


	3. Part 3, Walk in my shoes said the Ghost

Tinga´s Ghost by Shannon Hearn 

All character of Dark Angel are owned by Cameron-Eglee Productions and Twentieth century Fox.  

Rated "R" for mild nudity.  

Part 3, Walk in my shoes said the Ghost 

Part 3 note I would like to thank Jeffy of the band EligantSuicide for the use of the song "Nothing Left To See".  

***

              Over the last few days I have been making a copy of the extraction suit that Tinga was in when she died.  Part of me wanted to disprove Max being wrong about how she died while all of my inner being screamed that she was right.  For the most point at this time the suit looked like I was making a swimsuit with its tube top and skirted codpiece.  I hadn't added the tubes yet but, wearing it for that little while sitting in the bathtub my mind was swimming about what Tinga would have gone through hanging in that sensory depravation tank with salinatied water the same temperature of your blood.  I hadn't added the ventilation tube due to the time it would take to track down the medical tubing needed so I decided to use a homemade snorkel to breath through.  I just lay in the bathtub for several hours just breathing though that tube and just letting my body relax from its worries.  It wasn't until I started to hear Marzena enter the Hotel room with Zane I started to get worried about them finding me in here like this underwater.  So I tossed the snorkel into the bathroom kit I had making it look like one of the tubes me and Zane used to put our toothbrushes in.  As I quickly wrapped a towel around my body I heard Zane and MZ talking.  

            "Zane I know that Brin is one of your Manticore Kin, but she has been re-indoctrination and trust me it was not pretty."  MZ said as Zane sat down on one of the beds.  

            "I know but I feel like she is running from something that happened to her back at Manticore.  Something has her really spooked.  It is like the time when we were kids and Zack and the rest of us snuck down to the basement and ran into a few Nomalies.  She was so scared that she had urinated in her gown and grabbed hold of me for dear life."  Zane's voice showed a true concern for me.  

            "Yeah, I think this entire thing with her sister Tinga might be her way of putting right what she sees as what she did wrong working for Madam X and her little off the books Black projects."  MZ said as I heard her lean against the dresser in the room as it creaked against her weight.  

            "Madame X?  Who is she?"   Zane said as the curiosity in his voice started to worry me.  If MZ told him even a fraction of what I did, then I was scared that he wasn't going to love me any more and Tinga would not stop haunting me.  

            "Dr. Elizabeth Renfro or Madame X as she was called by the staff at Manticore was into a ton of Black Projects such as germ warfare, biological hardware such as living guns, and cybernetics.  Most of what I heard about her was only told in hushed whispers.  But this I knew along with everyone else, She and Lydecker butted heads over how Manticore should be run.  She for Black operations and assassinations, and Deck for honorable legit ops to supplement troops in the field."  

            "So Brin was part of Renfro's Black Ops group."  Zane said as I could hear her sigh.  

            "Yes..." Marzena said as I kept leaning towards the door as I started to strip off the suit so I could stash it; I continued to listen in.  That was when I slipped on the wet floor and landed on my naked ass.  A moment later MZ and Zane were in the bathroom with me.  I was just caught with the canary in my mouth.  Zane just looked at me with the words "Oh Shit" plastered on his face as he helped me off the floor and took me into the bedroom.  I could just feel their eyes on me as the cold air rubbed against my hot skin.  But for some reason Marzena was moving towards me as something about her made me think more about who I was and who I wanted to be.  

            "Brin..." Marzena said sitting down next to me "... want to talk."  I could feel that she was seriously concerned about me.  Then that is when Tinga returned again and I was not the only on along for the ride.  We were both transported into the spirit realm.  

            The eerie cliffs of where I was last at emerged to the surface again.  This time I was clothed and MZ was with me.  Then this is when things started to get weird.  Tinga was there wearing her angelic white dress, but there were other Spirits with her and from the look on her face she was worried about something.  And it was something that scared me to my very being.  

            Marzena said as my sister's ghost moved over to her to look at both of us before she started to speak.  

            "Hello Brin, I see that you found on of those meant to help you on this quest."  Tinga said as she started to examine MZ like she was an old friend, then Tinga started to say something in an almost animal tongue that sounded like the Nomalies spoke in the Basement of Manticore when I was a child.  I swore I saw MZ blush from what Tinga had said to her.  But the mood changed suddenly as Tinga turned her attention to me as a sense of worry formed on her face.  

            "Brin" Tinga said as worry formed on her face, "Case is in danger.  I need you to go find him and his Father and get them to safety."  I was concerned as something in her eyes screamed that there was something more at stake then she grabbed both MZ and me and yelled.  "Brin, Marzena.  The people after Case and Charlie are about an hour away from getting the four of you.  YOU MUST LEAVE NOW!!!"  With that were dumped back into our reality.  

            "Zane, Get Jason, we have to bug out now.  We have hostiles on the way."  Both MZ and me said at the same time.  Zane just gave us a look of "What the hell just happened to you."  

            "Zane, whatever has happened to Brin seems to be some sort of Spirit like with the other side."  MZ said "Whomever, she knows on the other side has just given us Intel on who is about to pay us a visit."  

            "Zane, they are after us and Case.  I owe Tinga that much to make sure that he doesn't wind up like she did." I yelled.  My heart was in my throat as Me and MZ tossed clothing an gear into backpacks and tote bags and dumped the stuff into the back of Zane's pickup truck.  Soon after that Zane showed up with Jason and Brutus his Doberman and we were off well before the cops and the Military officials showed up at the hotel.  But I kept getting this feeling that there was something darker chasing us and it was just using the government as a cover for something much more hideous than whatever Manticore could have ever dreamt up in its most evilest of days.  

***

            We spent the next few hours driving north through the back roads as Marzena and me explained what had happened to us in the hotel room.  I don't know who believed it more me or having MZ tell the story about Tinga's ghost visiting us in the vision we had.  At that point I made a decision that I would do what Tinga asked me to, I would save her family.  

            "Zane we need to find a phone and call Max.  Charlie and Case are in Danger."  I said as I saw Tinga's face nodding in approval reflected in the windshield of Zane's pickup truck.  The music fit my mood as we were driving; it was the song "Nothing Left To See" by the band EligantSuicide.  

When I look into your eyes/ Theres nothing left to see

Nothing but my own mistakes/ Staring back at me

I'm asking myself why/ I have made the sacrifice of

Staying with you/ You just push away

I can't see my own reflection/ Looking back at me

My eyes are blinded by my own demise/ I'm somewhere cold

I'm alone and shaking/ Everything's black

And I can't see anymore

Everything falls apart/ My life shatters before my own eyes

I'm stumbling back into a dream/ Where I'm not so alone

I can feel myself breathing/ I can see everything before me

I'm not blinded by my demise/ I'm not cold and shaking

It's easier to breathe/ I feel I belong now

Life's so much easier for me here/ I have no one to push me away

To hold me down until I cant breath/ I'm free from the pain

And from my own self denial

Why I stayed with you/ I just pushed away

No matter what I said/ Everything is just so faint to you

You're too blind to see/ That you're wearing me down

I'm breaking underneath the tension

I'm telling you that it's the only chance for me/ That the only thing

Left is to turn and face you/ But I'm too weak when I look

Into your eyes/ And I break down again

I'm asking why!

Everything falls apart/ My life shatters before my own eyes

I'm stumbling back into a dream/ Where I'm not so alone

I can feel myself breathing/ I can see everything before me

I'm not blinded by my demise/ I'm not cold and shaking

It's easier to breathe/ I feel I belong now

Life's so much easier for me here/ I have no one to push me away

To hold me down until I cant breath/ I'm free from the pain

And from my own self denial

I can't feel my own hands/ I can't feel my own breathe when

I breathe/ The airs so thin

It can't carry my desperate cries/ I can't reach anyone

On the outside that look in on me

I'm trapped underneath this thin layer of glass/ I'm shouting but

Still it has not affect/ Please wake me from this nightmare

I'm telling you it's the only chance for me/ But all I see

Is you turning away from me

Everything falls apart/ My life shatters before my own eyes

I'm stumbling back into a dream/ Where I'm not so alone

I can feel myself breathing/ I can see everything before me

I'm not blinded by my demise/ I'm not cold and shaking

It's easier to breathe/ I feel I belong now

Life's so much easier for me here/ I have no one to push me away

To hold me down until I cant breath/ I'm free from the pain

And from my own self denial

Everything falls apart/ My life shatters before my own eyes

I'm stumbling back into a dream/ Where I'm not so alone

I can feel myself breathing/ I can see everything before me

I'm not blinded by my demise/ I'm not cold and shaking

It's easier to breath/ I feel I belong now

Life's so much easier for me here/ I have no one to push me away

To hold me down until I cant breath/ I'm free from the pain

And from my own self denial

There's nothing left to see/ I've changed

There's nothing left to see/ I'm starting over again

***

            It took us almost six hours of driving until we reached the apartment of Charlie and Case Smith.  Max had told the two that we were coming and that I was under Zane's wing.  So if I got out of hand, he would make sure that I didn't do anything stupid.  But my stomach felt like it was in knots.  Marzena held my hand as we went up the stairs.  Whatever was hunting us was also after Charlie and Case as well.  And that scared me more than going through this meeting.  

            This was my sister's child.  And I was more scared of this event than the time the others and me had snuck into the basement and ran into the Nomalies when were kids.  The only thing that helped me through the fear was that Zane was there and I could feel love leach into my once cold heart.  Then I saw Tinga's white shawl fly past me and pass right through the door before me like some underwater fish.  We were at the right place.  

            "So we better knock."  Jason said as he held his hand up to the door to sense if there was anyone else in the room before we knocked and entered the apartment.  Then I felt something change in the room around me.  Like there was something worried about me getting hurt but it wasn't Tinga's spirit.  It felt like it was something close to me that wanted to be with me, like it needed me to survive.    That was when the door opened and I saw Charlie Smith and he was not glad to see me.  

            "Hi Zane," Charlie said as he invited Zane into the apartment.  The look on Zane's face was worrisome.  Zane just took my hand and brought me into the apartment.  Marzena and Jason just sat beside me on the couch.  Jason just looked at me and said out loud.  "Brin you look like shit."  At that moment as Zane and Charlie were talking I just moved into one of the bedrooms and just started to cry.  My hair in a ponytail just flapped as I just shook in fear.  It took moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room as my night vision kicked in.  It was a little boy's room and between the toys on the shelf there were pictures of Tinga with her son.  Baby Pictures, running pictures, Tinga covered in soap as she bathed her son.  I kept seeing the mocha brown of her skin and brown eyes reflected in that of her son.  There was a since of her in bed with her baby son in her arms.  Each image haunted me as if this was what her ghost was attempting to say to me.  Then she appeared beside me as if she was lost in her memories of her life.  

            "The time I found out I was pregnant I thought it was the flu."  Tinga said as her ghost moved over to touch one of the pictures.  "It wasn't until I started having the visions.  I was scared and I felt that it kept telling me it he was inside of me.  So I took a pregnancy test and I learned that I was Pregnant.  I was only sixteen at the time and scared out of my wits."  Tinga's form started to shift back and forth between her white garb and the extraction suit she died in.  I was getting scared as she moved a homemade book on a shelf and put her hand on it.  "I think you should look at this one."  With that she disappears as the door opened and I saw a little boy there.  It was Case.  I just froze as he came in.  

            "You know your eyes are like my Mom's" as I saw his eyes glowing as well.  

            "Your Case...  Tinga's Kid."  I said to the child.  At that time I was more terrified than the night I ran away from Manticore.  Was this my destiny to be cursed forever for my actions?  With that I picked up the book that Tinga had mentioned to me and moved over to where Case was and sat down next to him by the door.  

            His eyes were glowing.  He was definitely Transgenic and she was scared.  With the book in my hands I sat down next to the child and I started to read to him.  As I started to read the story of the knight that had been captured the princes and princesses and hidden in a dark place until they escaped one day. The images of the story was about our escape back in oh, Nine.  I started to cry as I held Case next to me.  I kept picturing myself given this child a gun and ordering him to blow my brains out to avenge his mother's murder as I wore the extraction suit I Made for this scene to be played out.  Then I looked into his eyes, Tinga wanted him to be born free of the sins we had committed in our brainwashed Manticore state.  She gave her life to defend this child with her life and she wanted me to complete her mission.  At that moment I asked that if I had the strength to go on then I would.  I would never fail my sister again.  I am this child's protector, I took away his mother and now I would protect him with my soul and life.

            Tomorrow was a School day for Case and I was to keep watch over Case like his mother should have been if I hadn't taken her life with my own hands.  Screw Renfro and her lies.  I had killed my sister and it was time for me to make amends for my sins.  

***

            The hours afterwards were a nightmare as after I put Case to bed after reading to him for almost an hour Tinga's unfinished children's book.  I moved into the living room and took out a gun from my handbag and gave it to Charlie.  Charlie wondered what I was doing that was until I disrobed in front of him wearing nothing but the extraction suit I wore.  My skin was covered in pen of the veins that had appeared all over Tinga's skin.  I was terrified as a begged him to kill me.  I knew I was breaking my promise to her, but I just wanted the pain to end.  Seeing Case was hell.  Marzena and Jason had gone back to the hotel to have some private time together as they left Zane and me with Charlie and Case.  

            I could hear the voices screaming in my head, as I demanded Charlie to pull the trigger and put me out of my misery.  I could keep feeling the barrel of the gun against my head as tears steamed down my face.  

            "Kill me, Kill me for what I have done."  I screamed as Charlie just stood there.  That was until I looked up into his face, my eyes burring puffy red from the salt in my tears.  That was until he said the words of spite in my face.  

            "No Brin.  I knew that you took Tinga's life.  But I know that you hurt from your actions." Charlie said as he took the gun and removed the clip from it.  Then he placed the clip and the chambered round in front of my face.  "Brin, you are going to know that from this day forward you will live your life knowing the pain you have caused this family.  Because I know that you are all too human, so living is the only punishment I can think of because Tinga told me of you and that you had a life she dreamed of.  Well you will learn that your life is going to be lived day to day remembering that you have taken your sister's life and you can feel her loss."  With that Charlie removed the barrel from the gun and flung it at my knees as I scooted away from it.  "You said Tinga's ghost was haunting you, will I will beep letting you haunt you until you die of old age."  That as when Zane came into the room as I started to curl up into a ball on the floor.  I could hear my heart race at full speed as I could hear Tinga again 

            "Little sister, I sent you her to protect my son and you will do it."  She said angrily as I could see her behind Charlie in the Extraction suit she had died in. From that point on I understood that my life was her's to play with at her leisure.  With Zane moving by me, he covered me with his Jacket.  

            "Oh, Brin.  What were you thinking???"  He said as he held me tight.  

            "I just wanted to be free from what I had done to Tinga."  I started to feel like I had to get this out.  I was scared.  Charlie just looked at me realizing that I was scared out my wits.  I just tried the coward's way out.  I had attempted "Suicide by cop" so I could free of the guilt of taking my own life.  Tinga had put me on this mission and I knew that I had to complete it no matter how long it took.    

            "Brin, if you are searching for absolution for what you did to Tinga, then only you can receive it from God."  Charlie said as he leaned over towards me.  "Marzena told me about some of the brainwashing you underwent.  Tinga said before she left that breaking the programming the first time was hard, but it can be done."  With that he placed his hand on my shoulder as I attempted to curl up some more away from him.  "Now you must find something to hold onto so that you can break it again."  With that I knew that Charlie and Zane would have to help me amend for my actions.  So after a few hours Zane and me left to go back to the hotel room.  That was when I came out and told him that I loved him.  Trust me the words were not all that elegant but the emotions I conveyed towards him in our own unspoken language made how I was feeling come across real clear.  I think it was the feline in my genetic mix that screamed.  I love you Zane, I am scared about what I have done, but every tortured part of my being cares about you.  You make me whole and I want to be with you the rest of my life, through the good times and the bad.  I think he got it as we kissed; the pain in my heart was slowly fading away as my tears were transformed from those of pain but of love.  

            That was we walked in on Marzena and Jason.  What shocked the fool out of both of us was that Marzena was wearing less than I was with Zane's Jacket and the Extraction suit. She was only wearing a pair of panties and nothing much else and Jason was acting as a human pushup bra with his hands.  That was when I lost my lunch in the doorway.  It was going to be a long night in that I didn't sleep very much I was going to be pulling guard duty on Case in the morning to see who was after us.  Max was going to get back to us about any information about who the goon squad that was after Charlie, his son and us.  I had the feeling that it wasn't Manticore that was after us but something worse.  

***

            The next day I decided to guard duty at Case's school.   It was long as I started to feel that there was something about to go wrong.  Seeing Tinga over the past few days had forced me to think about my actions of what I have done to her and her family.  It didn't matter what Renfro had said to me to lighten my actions or what Max had done.  I had killed my sister, I had sentenced her to death the moment I forced her into that other convoy without Lydecker's knowledge.  Now it was mission to ensure that her child did not suffer the same fate.  That was when I saw something suspicious going on outside of the School.  That is when I got on my cell phone and contacted Zane and the others and informed them that something strange was going on and that I was going to check it out.  I don't know what pushed me into moving into the school and checking myself in as a family relative of Tinga's but having Case vouch for me made me worry about what he had said.  I have to live with my guilt of my actions.  It didn't matter who ordered it, it was me who put her into that position in the first place.  

            I kept thinking back to the Lopez family who had taken me in the months before the Pulse.  I was so terrified about them finding out about who I was and what I was.  But Mama Lopez had cared for me and taken me in as one of the family.  Even after I had been accepted to University, I had come down with the first stages of Protegra and was forced to go on the run.  Now I wanted to let them know how I was doing, but the entire Tinga issues was going to be something that would come up at sometime in the future and I was afraid about talking about it.  But it was Case that was driving me now.  I was drafted into the role of being his Aunt and I was going to be the best damn Aunt this kid was going to have.  I was going to teach him all the stuff that his mother would be missing out on due to me taking her life.  That was when I started to walk down the hallway I saw that there was something wrong.  When a bell rang for recess, students should have been leaving the rooms to have a good time with their friends, but there was no activity.  The place acted as if it was under some sort of shutdown.  That was when I smelled the sent of gun oil and a severely injured patrolman on the floor.  It was a hostage situation and that I was up to me to ensure that not only Case was saved but the lives of his classmates as well.  That was when I got on the line and contacted Zane and the others about what I had stumbled into.  As I hung up a guy came up behind me and tried to take me down.  With all my speed and training I through the guy several feet in the air.  I watched the guy hit the wall with enough forced to leave an imprint in the drywall and brick.  As I started to walk away I saw the guy get up of the floor and start to run towards me. The force of that impact would have killed a human but given the way that this guy was behaving and the way he was moving he wasn't human.  With that I want into full combat mode.  

            With repeated punches I blurred flipped and dodged like I have never don in the past.  Not even when fighting against my fellow Transgenics I had dealt with strength like this.  When I had gotten a chance to get behind this guy I was able to get a look at the back of this guy's neck and saw that there was no Barcode, no implant scar on the back of his neck to determine that he was a Red Series, but given his speed and strength he wasn't human.  That was when I grabbed his neck and with a sharp blow I snapped it.  As I watched the body fall to the ground I thought about how I would hide the body so that if there was any security patrols this guy was with they wouldn't find him for a while.  So I picked up his almost three hundred kilo body and blurred into a storeroom in that hallway and heaved him into the soundproofing tiles above the door.  It would be a while until he would be found if ever, well given that his rotting body wild give him away.  As I was heaving him up His jacket sleeve ripped and I say some brand marking that looked like an inverted Cadialus symbol.  I studied it. It looked like it was scar tissue that seemed to have been crated and almost calcified into the flesh.  At that moment I almost sense something different in me.  It was as if some sense in me started to kick in.  That was before I heard the footsteps coming down the hall with my enhanced hearing.  It was as if I had gained the power of a Millennia movie superhero character who could sense danger before it happened.  But wearing Red and blue Spandex was not my thing.  Then I got the feeling as I started to look at them pass by with my enhanced hearing as I kept quiet and dropped my heart rate down to minimum levels that was when I felt that I was safe.  That was when I was listened to what I was hearing.  

            "The Child is like us and the initiation has to be done." 

            "Yes but due to faulty Intel the girl is gone and we are stuck in a school filled with Human cattle, and the authorities are outside waiting to hear our demands."   That was when I started to sense My way through what was unfolding.   "These were the people who were after Case that Tinga warned me about."  As I waited several moments after they left that I got out of the storeroom and started to do a standard Recon of the building to get a sense of what was going on.  That was when the "Spider Sense" kicked in and I duce to where a water fountain was set into the wall as I watched the Terrorists move by.  That was when the sense kicked in again but before I could react I was thrown against the wall and I fought this guy again fully prepared for him being not human but that was when I was sucker punched from behind by a guy that could have doubled for Mount Everest.  

            When I woke up later I had been dragged into Case's classroom and Case had been near my.  I had been tied up some, but given the restraints I had been put into gave me the feeling that they did not know I was a Transgenic.  But the guy I fought was not human and not Transgenic, so what had I been fighting?  That was when Case came over to me and sat down beside me.  

            "Aunt Brin, are you okay?"  He said as his brown eyes shown up to me.  A little glowing green shown through.  

            "Yes I am, so tell me what the Bad men want?"  I said as I started to size up the situation.  No windows, a side door entrance that was guarded.  Handheld wireless video gear covering all the main entrances and exits of the structure.  Encrypted Radios and sterilized hydrogel glocks Nine Millimeters.  These guys wee defiantly professionals but they were not Terrorists, nor mercenaries, but they operated more like a retrieval team.  That was when I listened to what Case was saying.  

            "Well they were looking for a classmate of mine named Annise but for the last few days she hasn't been in class."  Case said as I debated my next move.  This was a retrieval that had gone bad.  That was when I made the decision to use what resources I had at my disposal, the kids, the Teacher and her aid and Mine and Case's Transgenic powers.  

            "Case.  How much do you know about your Mother's powers?"  I said looking down at Case as he curled up next to me.  

            "Mother said that I could see in the dark and hear faint things like her.  But I was to keep my powers hidden from those who would try to hurt me."  He said as I started to work on the restraints on my wrists.  

            "Well it is about time you learn that we leave no one behind.  If I fail to protect you and I am too Injured to help I want you to kill me."  I said to Case as I saw Tinga's Spirit come into the room.  She was wearing a type of Angelic armor and a sword.  Her face shown worry and concern.  This is what she had warned me about and I had just royalty screwed up.  

            "Brin make your move when I am ready.  But protect these people until I am ready.  Protect Case."  Tinga said as she stood guard over us as I nodded in agreement.  Two other spirits dressed like her moved out the door.  At that moment I wished Zane and the others were here to help.  Especially Zane.  The first time in years since the night of the escape I felt that I need to protect someone I loved.  I was in love with Zane and Case was a member of my family.   I was going to make sure that Case was protected until Tinga gave me a sign of when to act.  With that I started to stroke Case hair with my chin to keep him calm.  

            Zane where are you?

***

Next:

Part 4, Penitence for my sins


	4. Part 4, Penitence for my sins

Tinga´s Ghost by Shannon Hearn 

All character of Dark Angel are owned by Cameron-Eglee Productions and Twentieth century Fox.  

Rated "R" for mild nudity.  

**

Part 4, Penitence for my sins

            "We have gotten word that a hostage circumstance has sprung up at Rodger Smith Elementary.  According to information that that we have available at this time is that there was a kidnapping attempt of one of the students.  Due to the student whose name has not been disclosed at this time that they were looking for had been withdrawn from the school several days ago.  But an unknown number of children and staff are still being held as Police Negotiators arrive on the scene."  The female reporter said on the television screen as we all watched as the situation we were all in.   The people around the room started to shift some as the men started to march around to knowing they were in a mess.  But I kept my attention on Case who was at my side.  I had told him a story of a little girl who had found a big family who owned a farm.  She had a secret power that she had kept hidden from her family that she could see in the darkest night, hear sounds no one could and speed faster than the eye.  But an Evil Sorceress had gone out and hunted her down and sent a sickness upon her and the only way it could be cured was to become her servant.  During this time she was trapped by the Sorceress she had committed evils that were so dark and evil that she was ordered to hunting down of her own sister and making her part of the sorceress's plans.  But the sorceress couldn't destroy her captured sister's spirit even as she died she had become an angel and used her strength to free her enslaved sister to fight the forces of evil for which she done in the world.  Case wondered what the girl and asked if she ever went back to her family.  All I could say was She feels that the time hasn't arisen yet for her to go home but someday she will have to go home and tell them that she misses them very much.  That was when I started to sense that there was a change in the air as I started to "Sense" Zane.  That when I saw Tinga's ghost start to motion to me to go to a particular part of the room and to gather the children there.  At that moment one of the guards yelled out wondering what I was doing. That was when the overhead tiles gave way as Zane fell through the ceiling. Using my speed and strength I grabbed the guy's arm and gave what could be best balled a Trinity Kick and slammed the guy with enough force that his arm snapped and he was flung thirty feet through the air that he left a good sized indentation in the classroom chalkboard.  Zane saw this chance to go hand to hand with another one of the hostage takers.  At that moment I realized that Zane didn't know about these guys like I did.

            "Zane they are like us.  Use the katas..." I yelled out to him as the door exploded again.  This time there was an inhuman wail of sound as I saw the guy start to quiver like he was being shaken apart from the inside out.  Between seeing the blood come out of his ears, nose, eyes and mouth his internal organs were probably being turned to liquid right before me.  Then the sound stopped as the man fell to the floor then the figure of Marzena came through the door and took her gun out and empted three rounds right into the now bleeding corpses head.  

            "Brin, when were you going to tell use that these guys were just as tough as we Manticoreians?"  Marzena said her voice real strained as I got the feeling that she used her sonic powers to do stuff to this guy that frankly that if she wanted to know his shoe size, she probably did now, included whether or not the guy had wear spots in his shoes.  

            "Sorry I was out of communication with you all but I was kinda protecting Case here at the time."  I said as Marzena just shot me a look of "Yeah right."  That was when I tuned to Zane as he finished off his soldier who he left with a broken neck.  

            "Brin what are these guy's?"  I mean they are just as tough as us but they are not us?"  Zane said as I got another "spider tingle" from the room.  That was when I saw that Case was gone.  Quickly I turned to see that Case was being held by another one of the assailants.  This one was the leader.  

            "You creatures will die the Coming and I will make an example of this child."  He said as he held Case by the Throat. Quickly I decided to play this guy's move.  

            "You know you shouldn't have chosen on of our kind's children to take hostage."  I said as Case looked at me knowing what he was going to do next.  "Case your mother said you could move like the wind.  I want you to do that."  With that Case did his first blurring of his life.  The leader of these men was caught off guard as cased with his inherited enhanced speed broke from the man's grasp and Zane emptied several rounds into the man's head.  That was When Tinga made her presence be known to us all.  

            "Brin..." The Angelic figure said to us all as she moved forward to me and placed her hand on my forehead.  "Remember."  With that I was forced to relive the events of my past starting from my run-in with the Gomez Family market through the hours after I saw the signal to go to ground.  

            The memory of the hunger pangs from my stomach, as I hadn't eaten in several days as I snuck around the fruit market staking out the most effective escape routes for myself.  That was when my stomach made its growl for food.  Fearing my position had been made I snuck for a more secure location so I could study the activity.  The open-air produce market was closing up shop for the evening and I had to time my thefts just right so the storekeepers wouldn't notice them.  That was when I ran into two young boys in their teens, Carlos and Alex.  I remembered the comments they said about me being so skinny.  Heck I hadn't eaten in about a week but when they offered me that apple from their fruit stand.  I remember how the sweet taste of it.  It wasn't until it met their parents that I felt that they would report me but they took me in.  I went from being Brin, X5-359 to being Brin Chang on that day.  I had a normal childhood even after the tragic events of the Pulse where mostly everyone's lives were flipped upside-down.  Other than being home by evening curfew I had lots of days playing on that old swing I found on the Lopez estate.  I loved the feel of the grass under my bare feet and the hours that I felt like I could fly in that swing.  Then mages appeared before me of when I had my first heat cycle.  By this time me and Alex were dating at the time and Momma was freaking somewhat that we were close under the same roof.  But when I had come home that day even with my long dyed red hair, I felt like I was normal as I behaved like a normal teenager as my well filled out frame was catching peoples eyes even that of Alex back in the tenth or eleventh grade.  But my hormones had kicked in with full vengeance as I snuck into his room.  All I mostly remember was an urge to be with him, to have him inside of me, to feel his hand s on my skin.  Heck all I remember was my shedding of my clothes and moving to him naked in a hypersexual crazed state, as I didn't care weather or not wanted to wear any clothes ever again.  I don't know what I wanted but All that I new when I was in that states was that I wanted to fulfill my loins as they burned with lust to be filled.  Much of the event afterwards were filled with my sex filled guilt of my losing my virginity and that Alex was scared of what we did in his room for a period of an hour with the folks out of the house.   Heck me and Alex were thinking on having sex but this mood with my hormones that I didn't know about scared me more than the actual event itself.  It wasn't until my third heat cycle that I realized what it was and I partially dreaded it fearing that my animal genes had let their presence be known to be that I wasn't human.  Then another set of images appeared before me as Tinga guided me through more moments of my past.    And I was standing over a body of a burglar that I had killed in self-defense; the whole part was that I did it in front of Alex.  Between me heaving the guy right over my head and throwing him against the wall like it was nothing.   Between the broken body on the floor and me wanting to puke my guts out all I could remember saying is "Don't Touch Me."  All I remember was Alex touching me on the shoulder and me falling right into his arms.  I remember telling him everything about who I was and what I was.  Part of me just collapsed in pain as I broke down.  Between him listening to me and me throwing up in the sink I knew that he cared about me and he partially understood why I had sex with him.  Then I was flung forward again, this time a year before I came down with Progeria, Me and Alex were having fun under the sheets as I got a call on my phone stating that I got the chance for a full scholarship to go to Harvard but between the giggling and Alex kissing my naked shoulder I think that the guy on the on the side of the line thought that he had called at the wrong time.  I did get the scholarship.  But I was never to fulfill as several months later I was forced on the run as I started to develop Stage Five Progeria.  Between running place to place away from Lydecker's people I didn't know who to trust.  

            Between hiding in refrigerators and any place cool to keep my body temperature down I knew that Zack and Max were doing best to keep up with me.  But they both knew that the only place that could treat me was Manticore.  At that moment I knew they had no choice to save my life I knew that I didn't blame them for leaving me there they said that they would come back to break me out.  They said stay strong.  I knew that I failed that order.  The last free thought I had before they strapped me into that chair to do the reprogramming on me was "Max...  Zack save me so that I cam get back to Momma."  My last thoughts were of the being with the Lopez family for those near ten to eleven years of my life.  Then Tinga showed me images of the Lopez family wondering what had happened to me.  Where was I Alex knew part of the story but he knew that I was on the run.  Now I would have to explain to them that since the people chasing me were gone, but their faces still remained I did this for their safety.  Then two other sprits showed up by her adult male and female who looked like they had some of my Asian features and some of Zane's.  It took me a moment to digest who they were as I felt a subtitle kick in my belly.  

            "Brin these two beside me are the spirits of your unborn children."  Tinga said as I fell to the ground looking at her.  "Brin you have blamed the wrong people for what has happened to you.  You have to forgive yourself what has happened.  You have your freedom back down along with your soul."  Tinga said as she come and knelt down beside me. "Brin, I want you to help Charlie raise Case and let him know that that I didn't leave on purpose, but I had to do it to save his life.  You said it in the story you told him.  Tell him that the Sorceress is real and that you have defeated her but you have to care for your sister's child.  But Case will make a great big brother for your kids as they grow."  Tinga said with a grin as I started to cry. 

            "Easy there Little Sister, I know that the road you are on isn't easy but know this you are not alone on it."  Tinga said as she put her hand on my chin to lift my face up.  "There is one more mission I want you to perform.  I have a Clone out there you will meet her.  Just let her know that she isn't alone.  Case is going to have a kinship with her in that she is a sister to him.  I want those two to become the people they were meant to be Brin."  With that I knew that I had a new mission Helping Case become they person that Tinga wanted him to grow up to be.  This sister was just another objective I had to fulfill.  Then Tinga brought me back to reality.   As I looked around the classroom with Zane, Marzena, Jason, Case, and Charlie standing around me.  

            "Um, guys I think we have to bail out of here, the cops are coming and I got the feeling that we shouldn't be here."  Then Tinga was standing still there as her angelic form moved over to Charlie and Case.  "I will be there for you all but now you must go, the evil that these men worked for are coming once again.  You must go."  With that I saw with a new sight.  I saw people with the glyph coming down the hallway.  

            "Everyone, I want you to follow us out."  I said to the people in the room.  "We will lead you to safety.  Zane I should take point since I can sense these guys."  Zane looked at me and understood.  Ten minutes latter after taking a zigzag path out of the school, we got the teachers and the children out before doing our own Escape and Evade from the police.  

            I look back on that day, as the day l was reborn to the world.  That was the day that I told Zane he was going to be a father.  

            Thanks Sis, for everything. 

*** 

Next Chapter

Part 5, A new life and new choices before me...


	5. Part 5, A new life and new choices befor...

Tinga´s Ghost by Shannon Hearn 

All character of Dark Angel are owned by Cameron-Eglee Productions and Twentieth century Fox.  

Rated "R" for mild nudity.  

***

Part 5, A new life and new choices before me...

            It has been months since that Day at the school and Tinga's last appearance.  But I feel that she is always around watching over me.  I felt her presence around me when I gave birth to my twins.  The little baby boy and girl I had were precious and I understood why Tinga made the decision she did to save her child.  At that moment I realized why Tinga gave up her life to save her son.  She was guaranteeing that she would live on in her son's heart and spirit even if she died.  With that I had given what missions that I had done in the past a consideration that I would tell my children when they were old enough about I my past and what I had undergone.  Even about telling them about what happened to Case's mom, Tinga.  But it has been a couple months since that when Me, Zane and several other Transgenics help found the Transgenic Colony of Northern Point.  

            For an old abandoned logging slash mining town that looked like all the business had dried up and was Ghost Town, it looked like the perfect place to set up a base of operations.  Between Leap and a group of X6s that Max had sent to us along with her Clone Sam.  Life had gone into a slow rate of keeping things going.  Though having my own personal assistant named Ralf did keep me on my toes.  I felt that helping these young Transgenics through the rough times they were having in adjusting to being outside of Manticore.  But seeing Ralf standing by me in her jeans and baggy flannel shirt that she felt so comfortable in, I could see that she was scared as she came towards me with a list of the names of the newer Transgenics that had showed up.  The look on Ralf's face was that of concern as she was handed a PDA with a digital camera built into it.  

            "Brin...  you said to keep my eyes open for a child with your sister's designation."  There was a pause from Ralf as she scrolled through several images on the screen until she got to the image of a young X9 on the screen a little younger than Case was.  "Brin I want you to met X9-656..." Then I saw the dark skin of the ghost image of my late sister Tinga came into view.  What scared me was that her hair had been grown out just enough that she looked human.  But it was those eyes that scared me.  This was the child that Tinga had told me about in her vision all those months ago.   

            "Tell me how she is doing?   Is she okay?  Does she need any help adjusting?  Did she come in with anyone?"  I was so concerned about the events that I just started at the image on the screen for an eternity.  

            "Brin, X9-656 came in alone.  She looked like she had been through a lot."  Ralf said as I looked at her hair and eyes of Tinga's clone.  

            "She is a lot like me and the rest of the Oh'Niners."  I said as I was thrown back to my memories of when I was on the run and of the hardships that I had to endure.  Only if I had a mentor to guide me through the harder times of my life knowing what was going to happen to my mind and body.  Understanding my first Heat cycle, my first period, and my first date.  All the things in my life I wished that there had been someone to guide me through those experiences.  Now Tinga had given me the chance to be a big sister to this girl if only if she would let me do so.  That was when I asked Ralf where she was.

            "Ralf do you know where she is at right now?"  I said turning my attention to Ralf.  

            "The last I saw her was around the Mess Hall area..." Ralf said as she turned to me with worry in her eyes.  "... But Ma'am I'm not sure that you should go alone.  Given your previous history with her older counterpart and that you should spend more time with your children.  This is an important time in their lives and it will never come again.  You should be with them."   Ralf's words started to sink in with me.  

            "Okay...  Okay, I'll do what you said Ralf, I'll go with my kids, but I want MZ to check this kid out as my compromise, deal."  I said aloud.  Ralf looked at me and grinned in acceptance as she ran her fingers through her long blond hair letting the two-day-old Hicky on her neck come into view.  I just looked at that mark and let out a small giggle in the process.  Ralf looked at me for a moment till she realized what I was giggling at.  

            "Ralf you might want to put some antiseptic salve on that mark on your neck that Bullet gave you."  I said as I tapped at the same location on my neck.  Ralf moved her hand down to where the red and blue mark on her neck was and started to blush. 

            "I guess that me and Bullet have taken a liking to each other over the past year or so."  Ralf said as she started to blush as we started to walk out the door.  

            "Yeah love is important.  But remember to practice safe sex Ralf.  Contraceptives are only ninety-seven percent effective.  Just be close to each other between your heat cycles and you will know that he is a keeper."  I said from my own personal experiences.  

            "Okay Brin, Now lets go visit those two lovely children of yours."  Ralf said as we headed to my quarters so that I could spend some family time with my kids.  

***

            As we moved through the streets of the small town, I noticed that Ralf started to fidget some as we passed by the "school" as everyone called it due to it being the old school building, but with the influx of so many young Transgenics into the area, it had become a sort of gathering place for many of them as they sought to find a place where they could feel safe and locate those they had lost track of during the night of the fire.  That was when I saw Case playing in the field by the school with several other Transgenics as they played a game of softball.  That was until I saw the girl on the outfield.  The mocha skin, the black hair, and the high cheekbones said all I needed to know.  That was Tinga's Clone and she was playing a mean game of Ball as she threw a curve ball that would have won any World Series game.  That and poor Bugler was thrown back from the impact.  

            "Ouch..." I said as I saw Bugler get up off the ground and shake his hand several times to get the feeling back into it.  

            "I'm Okay."  He yelled as he looked at the young X9 who literally knocked him on the ground.  "Whoa...  you have one serious arm on you girl."  He said as he moved over to see where Case was.  For a young kid who Tinga asked me to save, I still felt that despite all the things I had been through in the last few months would be nothing in comparison whenever I saw Case.  But I had started to forgive myself for the actions I had done.  Right now I could see that Tinga's clone had started to move towards him and stand towards him.  It was as if they both knew they had a biological connection to each other.  Half Brother and Sister.  

            I knew that I would meet them later on as I knew that I would have to learn the young X9's name.  Not her designation, her real true name that she would go by.  

            "Ralf."  I said to her as we walked over to the ball field's fence.  "Do you know her name?"  I said shakily as Ralf walked over to me and saw that I was looking at Tinga's clone.  

            "Her Name is Lynn, Brin."  Ralf said as I started to think more and more about how I could help this little girl out.  

            "Ralf, I want you to see if you can get Lynn assigned to the Smith household.  I mean considering that Case is technically her half brother."  I said realizing that that I wanted to make amends for the actions I have done.  That was when we started to move on from the School as I started to think about my children.  

            An hour pasted as I sat next to Zane as we played with the twins.  I had fraternal twins a little boy and a little girl, the boy I named Ben after my late brother and the girl I named Eva.  If you know anything about me or the other Oh'Niners is that out of our unit several died during our childhood and I was close to my brother Ben in that he was a great story teller, when I learned of his death when I was on the run I felt my heart take a dive down so you know where I got the name Ben.  My girl I named Eva after my late sister who risked her life to save Max's life when she started to have Seizures.  Lydecker shot her where she stood as she attempted to hold off the personnel.  Since I had seen Tinga's ghost all those months ago I knew that their spirits were out there and I wanted to honor them by naming my children after them.  That was when I saw MZ coming over and sitting in a chair close to me.  Her rounded Belly showed through her white dress and boy was she glowing.  Whatever Jason did to satisfy her to perform that deed I did now want to know but if she was like Zane and me during the first Trimester; well snuggling in the nude with a rounded belly did make the mating urges more sensible and boy did I love being kissed on the belly button.  But I digress here.  

            "MZ, listen I know that I have been though a lot, but could you do a ceremony for me and Zane."  I said realizing that I was going to ask a dozy from her.  "I want you to baptized me and a young X9 that came into town recently."  I said as MZ looked at me.  

            "Brin, I'm not a follower of the Blue Lady; I'm a follower of the Gias and I'm not sure that it would be right."  She said worried that I was going to ask her to do something she did not want to do.  

            "Marzena, you are the most religious person I know and the closest thing we have her to a priest.  I want you to do this.  I want to say to myself that I want my sins to be forgiven and I want to give one of the clones of the Oh'Niners a chance to start her life fresh, with a family."  I said as I watched her chew over the decision.  

            "Okay, I'll do this for you Brin."  She said as she looked over at my little girl Eva.  "You know, I think the main reason you are doing this is to show them you can be normal and be a mother."  MZ said as she reached over to caress the side of my face as I let out a soft sigh of relief.  "Tinga was right, you needed to fight to get your soul back and I am with you here though the good times and the bad."  She said as over the next few hours we planned the ritual down.  

***

            Several days had passed and I had seen Lynn several times.  Despite what had happened to her, she showed a strength that I had only seen once before.  I had seen that strength in her sister Tinga.  She had been coping with life with Charlie and Case Smith but she was a girl and Case had started to feel that despite the familial bonds they shared.  He would be a big brother to her and years later he would beat the crap out of a guy for calling her a Trannie Slut in a public place i.e. Tossing the guy through the window of the guy's car.  Eva on the other hand I had to deal with the shock of her going through her first heat cycle on her sixteenth birthday.  Between me barricading her in her room and giving her the talk, it was one of those experiences that a mother doesn't forget considering that I had given Lynn the same speech years earlier. 

            For the next few days, I realized that despite the simple ness of the ceremony I knew that I was taking a huge leap for myself.  I had reconciled on part of my past and I would take the steps forward to lay a new path for myself and letting the Lopez family know that I was okay.   

***

            Standing by the shore of the river of Northern Point I can see Charlie, Case, and Lynn standing together in what looks like comfortable yet nice looking clothing that would probably pass for going to church in.  But I notice that Lynn in her white dress looks like an Angel before me.  I'm not really sure she knows the reasons why I'm going out of my way to help her, but on a subconscious level she knows it is about her clone.  Charlie has tons of pictures of her around their house.  Then I turn to see Zane and Ralf holding my babies, I can tell Ralf is thinking about starting a family with Bullet.  The two of them are acting like how Krit and Syl used to when I was growing up.  Always being there for the other.  That thought reminded me that Krit and Syl had invited to their wedding in Seattle and a part of me knew that going there would reopened some old wounds but it would heal others.  Mama Lopez would be proud of me doing what I'm about to do here as I turn to see MZ talking with Jason before the ceremony starts and I notice that Jason is rubbing her belly.  MZ and Jason grin for a second as they realize that their little one just let out its first buzz from her belly.  MZ has this glow that shows that she is going to be a great mother then MZ leaves Jason's arms and walks to me.  

            "Ready to start?"  Marzena said as the sandals on our feet and white dresses showed that this was a major event for the two of us.  

            "Yes..." I said then we turned to our friends and families and MZ started the ceremony going.  

            "Um, everyone can I have your attention."  MZ said raising her hand up and letting out a low pulse with her sonic powers to get everyone's attention.  Everyone stopped talking and looked to the two of us.  "Given this is the first Pentane Ceremony I have performed, I will try my best to fulfill the codes and rules of the Followers of the Blue Lady."  Marzena said as she moved over to move the shawl that covered my head back so that my full head was revealed.  

            "We come here to bare witness for Brin in this Ceremony of Redemption."  Marzena said as the small group around us quietly listened.  I could feel the tension in my own body as I prepared to hear the next few lines that were spoken.  

            "In the life of a Transgenic, here are times that we have encounters with the spirits from the other side who we blame for causing their deaths or not being able to prevent them.  Today, Brin Lee McGovern stands before us and the ghosts and spirits of those she has wronged."  Marzena said as she took my hand and guided me as we walked into the river.  I could feel the dress I was in starting to soak the water up as it creep up my waist.  I could see that MZ's belly was showing through her dress due to her wearing a brown two-piece swimsuit underneath it.  For the yellow and orange swimsuit I was wearing didn't show through all that much due to the heavy cloth of the dress I was wearing.  But the coldness of the water brought back memories of the night me and the other Escapees ran away from Manticore all those years ago.

            "Brin Lee McGovern, X5-359 you stand before me and those around you to state the reason you are here so that the dead can finally rest."  Marzena said as I turned with her to the shore and nodded in agreement.  

            "I Brin Lee McGovern, Manticore X-Series Transgenic number 359 stand before you all to state the reason I am here."  I said as I could feel the strange feeling come over me and I could see Tinga's ghost materialize on the shore behind everyone and she nodded her head for me to continue.  

            "I am here to be baptized in the waters of this river or the sins I have committed against my fellow Transgenics and members of my family.  Especially for my late sister Tinga Penny Smith, for whose life I take responsibly for taking.  I only wish that she will for give my actions knowing that my soul had been buried from the Re-indocrenization I had experienced.  Now with it freed by her spirit, her ghost showed me the light I will strive to make this world a better place so that her family, her children and her clone will know her legacy of being free and alive in this world.  When she left this world it became a little darker, but her spirit given how short of a time it was here shown a bright light on us all and made use better people because of it.  I pray that the Blue Lady has her at her side and she is guiding others to where they need to be. "  With that Tinga's spirit moved over to where Charlie and his family were standing and a small flower started to blow in the wind and land at the feet of her family as if she was letting her presence known to her family.    

            "Tinga if you can hear me, That you for putting me back on the path of light."  I said as Marzena moved over and took my hand as we prepared for the next part of the ceremony.  

            "I Marzena, X5-478 of the Lapis series, follower of the Gias spirits have been asked by Brin to Baptize her in this stream to cleanse her soul of her sins.  May the Blue Lady accept your penance for you're past actions and allow you to life free."  With that Marzena slowly lowered me backwards into the water and I could feel the coldness sink in around the surface and me closed in around my head and body chilling me to the core.  But I could also feel that I was being lifted up as well as Marzena took one of her hands and caressed my forehead then she brought me back to the surface as the rush of water signaled the pulling of the sins from my body as I broke the surface.  I was soaking wet but I felt that I was free and had been given a new chance in life.  Tinga's ghost was still standing there and I noticed that my two children were looking right at her.  She blew them a kiss before turning back to me.  In my head I could hear her words.  

            "Now baby sister you now know why I gave my life to save Case.  As long as we make an impact on those around us we can make the world a better place.  Now you will make a difference in the world in your own way and you already have."  With that Tinga started to fade away as she reached over and touched her son Case and her cloned daughter Lynn on the shoulder as her last words echoed in my head as both children turned to see who had touched them on the shoulder.  

            "Be a good parent to your children and be a good aunt to mine Brin.  I'll be watching."  Those are words I have lived by for the rest of my life as I guide this new generation of Transgenics, Hybrids, T-Bloods and Ordinaries into this new world in which we live.  

            As the years have passed I have reconciled with the Lopez family and told them the truth of what I was and why I had to leave.  I had the chance to say this before Papa Lopez died of cancer and he had the chance to see his grandchildren, which made him proud.  I become an Aunt on both sides of the family and I still feel that Mama Lopez knew even when I was a child that I was different.  But being a mother now, I always see the ways Tinga has impacted me and I'm happy to have fully rediscovery my humanity.  

            Thank you Big Sister for teaching me the way back to the light.  

***

Brin Lee McGovern 

Date:  May 28, 2037 

Mother of two, Oh'Nine Escapee, Ex-Assassin, and leader of the Transgenic Canadian colony of Northern Point; Yeah, that sums me up pretty much.

First page of Brin Lee McGovern's interview for the New Canadian Time Newspaper.  

***

In Mythology when a mythical creature who wanted to go to heaven or join humanity; they had to perform a deed of great magnitude to gain a soul to get in.  We Transgenics have earned our souls through our deeds and will with luck get into Heaven to see our loved ones that have passed on.  -- Brin (Opening quote to her Autobiography 'Ghosts of Manticore')

The End


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